Announcing a CreativeBC Grant
for the next Spectrum Piano Mk2!
We're delighted to announce that Doug Blackley’s “Spectrum Piano Project” is the recipient of a Creative BC Innovation program grant!! The BCMF Innovation Program is one of the funding programs of the $15 million BC Music Fund supported by the Province of BC. This program is designed to create opportunities for growth, experimentation and cross-sector participation in British Columbia’s music industry.
The goal of the Spectrum Piano Project's Innovation grant is to assist in the creation of two new models of Spectrum Piano, Doug Blackley’s “acoustic synthesizer”, seen just last month as the feature story in “Electronic Musician” magazine. The first new Spectrum Piano will be a 48 magnet version of the previous mechanism, which will have greater ability to create new sounds than the previous one. The upgrade will not provide more available “notes” but will allow more complex synthesis techniques to be used. The second is a new portable mechanism, which will have 24 magnets but should be able to be installed into a host grand piano in a fraction of the time of the previous version. A “loaner” 12 channel system will be created from the previous portable; interest from a major university has already been expressed in working with it.
Doug would like to thank Creative BC for their support.
I’m excited to announce another big event in the Spectrum Piano Project. My creation, album and I am the subject of the centrefold feature article in the June 2018 print edition of “Electronic Musician” magazine!
This I confess to be a personal milestone. I read Electronic Musician and Keyboard (and the big European counterparts) cover to cover for at least a decade while I taught myself electronic music production. To be the feature in both Keyboard (now online) and now EM in print is “the thrill that will hit you when you get your picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone”!
Press the button below to listen to the sound and music of the Spectrum Piano. I have changed all of the tracks to full length previews so you can listen to the entire album online before you purchase it.
I have had a few requests to know where to find print copies of Electronic Musician. If you can’t find the magazine in your local shop you can order print copies of the June issue of Electronic Musician here: https://www.newbayonlinestore.com/products/electronic-musician-june-2018-the-musicians-guide-to-stage-microphones
If you would like to read the article online, it is also available at Keyboard magazine’s website: https://www.keyboardmag.com/artists/the-grand-piano-as-acoustic-synthesizer
P.S. A teaser, now: Thanks to Creative BC for something wonderful!! More news to come on that!
May, 2018
The thrill that will hit you...
Past News